Organizations such as on-line retailers, network-based service providers, Internet service providers, search providers, financial institutions, universities, and other computing-intensive organizations often conduct computer operations from large scale computing facilities. Such computing facilities house and accommodate a large amount of server, network, and computer equipment to process, store, and exchange data as needed to carry out an organization's operations. Typically, a computer room of a computing facility includes many server racks. Each server rack, in turn, includes many servers and associated computer equipment.
Computer systems typically include a number of components that generate waste heat. Such components include printed circuit boards, mass storage devices, power supplies, and processors. For example, some computers with multiple processors may generate 250 watts of waste heat. Some known computer systems include a plurality of such larger, multiple-processor computers that are configured into rack-mounted components, and then are subsequently positioned within a rack computing system. Some known rack computing systems include 40 such rack-mounted components and such rack computing systems will therefore generate as much as 10 kilowatts of waste heat. Moreover, some known data centers include a plurality of such rack computing systems.
Many data centers rely on forced air systems and air conditioning to maintain the temperatures and other environmental conditions in the data center within acceptable limits. The initial and ongoing costs of installing and operating these systems may add substantial cost and complexity to data center operations. Many existing methods and apparatus may not, moreover, supply air for cooling in an effective manner to where it is most needed.
Moreover, some known data centers include multiple rack computing systems having configurations that are non-uniform with respect to component density and usage, such that each rack computing system generates waste heat at a non-uniform rate as compared to other rack computing systems. In such data centers, application of uniform heat removal methods and apparatus to such non-uniform waste heat generation sources may not be fully efficient and effective in waste heat removal.
A disparity between a data center's heat removal capabilities and non-uniform waste heat generation by rack computing systems can lead to the creation of localized temperature anomalies in and around certain rack computing systems, including hotspots and coldspots, which can damage equipment if not mitigated. Modifying uniform cooling systems in a data center for such additional capacity to accommodate temperature fluctuations and non-uniform waste heat generation, is resource-intensive and may take many months to implement. Furthermore, using uniform cooling systems to mitigate short-term temperature anomalies caused by fluctuations in computing capacity needs at various rack computing systems can be an inefficient use of resources.
While embodiments are described herein by way of example for several embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that embodiments are not limited to the embodiments or drawings described. It should be understood, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit embodiments to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word “may” is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words “include,” “including,” and “includes” mean including, but not limited to.